by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

CHARLOTTE â?? On the third day of NASCAR's annual media tour, Carl Edwards became the first driver to express serious reservations about the proposed playoff format expected to be made official Thursday.

Edwards, calling himself an "old-school" driver who would rather not see a Chase for the Sprint Cup at all, spent more than 15 minutes explaining why a potential one-race, winner-take-all format might not be the best way for NASCAR to determine its champion.

"You don't want someone to win 35 races, have a blown tire in one race and not be the champion," he said. "That would seem kind of odd, juxtaposed to how we've crowned a champion â?? not just in NASCAR, but auto racing."

For most of its history, the NASCAR champion accumulated the most points over an entire season. In 2004, NASCAR Chairman Brian France implemented the 10-race Chase, which essentially reset the points for the top drivers after a 26-race regular season.

The Chase format has been tweaked a couple times since then â?? the field expanded and wild card spots were added along with a points system change â?? but nothing like what NASCAR might announce Thursday. Drivers have said this week they've been told of a format that would consist of a trio of three-race segments in the Chase with eliminations after each one, followed by a one-race playoff among four drivers to determine the champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway.The proposed changes first were reported by The Charlotte Observer.

Edwards, who lost a thrilling 2011 championship on a tiebreaker to Tony Stewart, had several concerns.

Among them:

--Having a championship event in racing isn't the same as in other sports where the only teams in contention go head-to-head. At Homestead, all 39 other drivers would be on the track with four championship contenders.

"It would be like if we played the Super Bowl this weekend and the 49ers were on the field (with the Broncos and Seahawks)," he said. "If they obviously out-performed the other two teams, it would look kind of funny."

--A worthy contender could be eliminated before the final race. Edwards gave the example of a driver who could win 10 regular season races and win multiple races in the first segment of the Chase. But after a blown engine and a couple average runs, that driver might be eliminated before Homestead â?? then go dominate the race and win it.

That would be "the worst thing that could happen," Edwards said.

"There's a guy who has won seven Chase races and 10 or 15 regular season races standing in victory lane in Homestead (after the championship race) and not be the champion," he said. "That would be confusing to people."

--Though NASCAR wants to place more emphasis on winning, Edwards said the top drivers are already doing everything they can during every race to win. If there were $1 billion and 10 championships on the line, he said, it still wouldn't make him drive any harder because he already gives maximum effort.

"The only thing we can do to race harder is basically start running into people," he said. "We're already racing as hard as we can without wrecking. And maybe people would. Maybe people would start really being vicious."

Edwards praised NASCAR for taking some recent steps to make the racing better, but said the aerodynamics often are still too difficult to overcome during an event.

"I think what you see right now on the racetrack, you see everyone in a line and think, 'Oh, these guys aren't really racing that hard,' " he said. "But the problem is what NASCAR is trying to address: I can't get to the guy in front of me. He's making a wake in the air and he's ruining my aerodynamic advantage. So even if my car is faster, I can't get to him because I lose the ability to corner fast.

"So no matter how much you make a position worth or a win worth, if you can't get to the guy, there are going to be long periods of the race that are difficult to pass."

--Change can be good, Edwards said. But there can also be too much change, which weakens the meaning of the championship.

Edwards emphasized several times that he would respect NASCAR's decision based on the sport's 60-plus years of running an entertainment business. He was "ranting" to someone about the latest changes, he said, and the person noted how no professional sports playoff is set up to determine the best team for a full season.

And Edwards said the one-race playoff could very well be exciting and compelling. But it's a big change for longtime followers of racing.

"To me, you have to decide what you're going to do: Are we going to be the sport we were for 50 years, or are we really going to change this thing and make it different?" he said. "I think they're prepared to change it and make it different. The result could be really spectacular."

Edwards said if it turned out NASCAR officially implemented the changes Thursday, he hoped it would be the last tweak to the championship format.

"I'll tell you one thing: Whatever it is we do, I hope we do it and stick with it for a long time," he said. "Because I think that gives it credibility, just inherently, to have something that isn't changing all the time."